Hymns Part 3 – The Self-rightous Elect

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I find it amazing how some hymn-writers held a false sense of holiness above all else.  Far from the grace described in Romans, these rather self-righteous words proclaim impossible levels of behaviour, exclude on the basis of actions, or lift the singer to a level where they feel that they’re above others who might not yet know Christ.

It’s wonderful to push toward the goal of being like Jesus, but the manner in which this next hymn promises that ‘nothing worldly shall enthrall me’ makes actually following these words an impossibility.

Earthly pleasures vainly call me;
I would be like Jesus;
Nothing worldly shall enthrall me;
I would be like Jesus.

Similarly, this one holds the singer to the letter of the law.  Who can really, truthfully sing all of these words?

Deceit and falsehood I abhor,
But love Thy law, Thy truth revealed;
My steadfast hope is in Thy Word;
Thou art my Refuge and my Shield;
The paths of sin I have not trod,
But kept the precepts of my God.

I usually cut and paste just a verse or two, but this one (presumably aimed at children or the newly-converted) I find completely horrific in its entirety:

Do no sinful action,
Speak no angry word;
Ye belong to Jesus,
Children of the Lord.

Christ is kind and gentle,
Christ is pure and true;
And His little children
Must be holy, too.

There’s a wicked spirit
Watching round you still,
And he tries to tempt you
To all harm and ill.

But ye must not hear him,
Though ’tis hard for you
To resist the evil,
And the good to do.

For ye promised truly,
In your infant days,
To renounce him wholly,
And forsake his ways.

Ye are newborn Christians,
Ye must learn to fight
With the bad within you,
And to do the right.

Christ is your own Master,
He is good and true,
And His little children
Must be holy, too.

What a litany of rules to live up to!  It reads like a tongue-lashing from a nasty, old-fashioned primary school teacher.  I don’t know how this got to be a hymn at all.

So much for turning the other cheek – this next hymn falls just a little short of pronouncing curses on sinners:

Are sinners now so senseless grown
That they the saints devour?
And never worship at Thy throne,
Nor fear Thine awful power?

Great God! appear to their surprise;
Reveal Thy dreadful Name;
Let them no more Thy wrath despise,
Nor turn our hope to shame.

Dost Thou not dwell among the just?
And yet our foes deride,
That we should make Thy Name our trust;
Great God! confound their pride.

And this one is even worse:

Are all the foes of Sion fools,
Who thus devour her saints?
Do they not know her Savior rules,
And pities her complaints?

They shall be seized with sad surprise;
For God’s revenging arm
Scatters the bones of them that rise
To do His children harm.

In vain the sons of Satan boast
Of armies in array;
When God has first despised their host
They fall an easy prey.

Apparently God exacts revenge on people who don’t like us.  That’s a new one to me!